Putting my back into it - and a little puzzle

A lovely day today, but I had to be cajoled into getting out into the garden - a reflection of my sheer indolence. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed it once there.

The lawn got its first cut of the year and, as expected, it was a struggle to get through parts of the grass. Our trouble is that a large part of the garden remains in the shade due to its position, the result being today that large swatches of the lawn remained damp and that harder to get the mower through.

No doubt it is our physical situation (not helped by a neighbouring property's lelyandii) which has caused my over-wintering onions to fail. There was no sign of anything, not even the bulbs. Perhaps something pinched them.

Even stranger, the sign saying onions had broken, leaving just ions. What do they know that I don't? And should I be very wary when approaching that particular part of the garden?

New year message

I haven't visited this blog for ages - which pretty much reflects the shamefully small amount of time I've spent in the garden.

Like last year, I resolve to get out there a lot more and put my back into it. After all, it is a very satisfying activity, isn 't it?

Come the summer everything will be transformed into the scene illustrated above.

Jottings on a windy day

The weather here has changed markedly since the end of last month and we are very rapidly descending into autumn, to be followed by the long winter months.

There's a bit of a breeze in the air today and I've taken the opportunity to hang out the washing and do some gardening. A good day for both. I wonder how many more there will be like it this year?

The crops are nearing their end, but I scarcely think that the produce I've gathered today counts as a good harvest. In short, a few beans, a courgette that just about does, a kohlrabi and some dwarf beetroot (they weren't meant to be small, but that's how they have turned out).

My two remaining courgette plants have come to the end of their life, I decided, so out they came. I shall definitely plant more next year.

The scene is set for winter and I have planted out some onion sets given to me by Kate and four spinach beet plants I have been growing in the conservatory. They join another six already in the ground, sharing the same part of the garden as the onion sets.

We had one of the kohlrabi the other day in a stew, a first for us, and thought it neither good nor bad - not having much of a taste at all. The one I dug up today is in the fridge now and I must look up some recipes. Another four plants remain in the garden, but seem very slow at coming to anything. Likewise with the broccoli, which I have left in the hope they will sprout.

Fewer and fewer beans have been available to pick over the last few days and I guess the two wigwams will be dismantled very soon. The runner beans have been very successful, the french beans less so. They climbed up the poles very well, but haven't really produced that much for eating.

My thoughts are turning to green manure. Must get some.

Using up the beans

I've got more runner beans than I know what to do with, so this afternoon I am making runner bean pickle.

It's a rainy, squally day as we head into autumn and the pickling activity seems just right. Soon the kitchen will be filled with the smell of vinegar, something which produces mixed emotions in this household. I quite like it, but I know the others will make a comment.

I'm using a recipe from the John Harrison Allotment website, a site I have mentioned before and which is invaluable for tips and advice, not just on digging and planting but also on cooking.

The mention of mustard powder in the list of ingredients sets me off back to childhood, when mustard didn't come ready mixed and every home had that yellow tin of mustard powder. Then, all of a sudden, there was a revolution and it came ready done in a jar. My mother was ever so pleased, although I don't think it had been a big job to mix it yourself.

One problem with the pickle recipe is that I don't have mustard powder, so I will have to get over that in some way. It's not very helpful of one website to tell me I can use wasabi powder instead. Oh yeah, we've all got that in the store cupboard.

I think I'll take the advice of one of the people who posted a comment on the recipe and add a handful of raisins - they're cheap in Lidl and we have quite a number of bags.

Here's wishing and hoping.

The tomatoes ripen

At last, at last...I've begun harvesting tomatoes. Just a handful so far, but I'm hoping the numbers will increase over the next week or so.

The Sungold variety have been first off the mark and it is only today that I have picked the first two of the Gardener's Delight. Very tasty too.

I got rid of the two pots of courgette plants on the doorstep today having witnessed them progressively ailing over the last week or so. That leaves two in the ground outside - one very tiny that has never produced anything and the other which has been a decent cropper and might yet produce a thing or two.

I also dug up the remaining lettuce and was told by Susan that I must at least pick what I grow. The point is well taken - I didn't take great care of the lettuce and we consumed barely any.

The weather has not been good today, being very breezy and showery. We have the fire on now. Time marches on.

Bountiful days

The shallots have been harvested and are lingering in a box on the cellar top. Not bad for a £1 net of sets from Poundland. Will try them again. I've planted out onion seeds in the vacant space. Not sure how they'll do at this stage of the year, but I thought I had better use up an unopened packet before it became out of date. No idea what sort of onions they are, it didn't say on the packet.

The remainder of my Desiree potatoes have also been dug up and there was a decent haul there. So too am I having a good crop of runner beans and courgettes. Perhaps we should hold a harvest festival service.

Some spinach beet and more onions have gone where the potatoes were. I could have used green manure on this bit, but it seemed a bit early to put this bit of soil out to grass. I wanted the space to remain productive and get its nutrients that way. I've also set some spinach beet off in the conservatory, ready to plant out later.

Waiting in the wings are the french beans, kohlrabi and broccoli. They seem to be coming on and should be ready soon.

But the tomatoes are the big if. Precisely two have ripened so far (the sungold ones). There's plenty of green ones, but they are remaining stubbornly green.

I'm looking now for inventive ways of using runners beans and courgettes. One thing that worked well today was something called Greek runner beans, taken from the marvellous allrecipes.co.uk website. Pretty tasty dish.

Taking stock after a week's absence

Our daughter did well in looking after the vegetables while we were on holiday, even to the extent of tying up one of the courgettes when it started leaning dangerously in its pot on the doorstep.

A few more tomatoes have appeared on the plants in the conservatory, but they are still some way off ripening. I wonder if they will.

Jobs done this morning before the rain came on were to dig up lettuce which had bolted and lift a few dodgy looking potato plants. This is the first time I have tried Desiree spuds and I was upset to see some of the plants seeming to be ailing, with leaves going very yellow and spottled.

Three of the plants seemed to be in such a bad way that I had to dig them up to see what was happening. I was very surprised to get a healthy haul of this red-skinned maincrop potato, having thought that it would not be ready for harvesting until September/October. Scouting around to see other people's experiences with this variety, I was reassured to read this comment posted by one satisfied customer on the website for Marshalls seeds:

Very good cropper even in dry conditions, with no need for extra watering. Suffers some scab, slug damage and also the dreaded blight, but well worth growing for delicious, heavy mash. Desirees are often ready for harvest by the end of July in my garden and they store very well right through winter.

Hurrah for that.

And also hurrah for the beans, which have come on during my absence and which I began picking today. A bit of a tangle in the wigwam, but I believe I got all those which were lurking in there.

We're all back from our summer holiday (although one of us never left)

We're back from our week's holiday in Switzerland and this is the view we had every morning from our bedroom window (there were a few snow-covered alps further in the distance, but I knew most people would want to see this snap of the vegetable patch).

The area where we stayed in the Valais region is reputed to be the country's warmest and it certainly lived up to that claim, getting hotter and hotter as the holiday went by. It's a climate conducive to wine making and it is  amazing to see grapes grow on almost every slope.

This is the site of Europe's highest altitude vineyard and we were lucky enough to have a look inside the the St Jodern Wine Cellars at Unterstalden, Visperterminen. Top-quality wine there.

Practically everyone had space where they grew vegetables of all kinds, a reflection of the country's spirit of self-sufficiency. And the produce was thriving. Every patch seemed to have an outdoor tap for watering, with most people having automatic sprinklers to do the job for them.

Little wonder that they are so industrious with prices as they are in the shops. Switzerland must be the most expensive country on earth.

I returned home determined to work a lot harder with my humble veg. Should I try growing grapes for wine? Mmm...running away with myself a bit there. Perhaps.